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All important terms in public procurement, from tender notices and eligibility criteria to contract awards. Clearly explained for beginners and professionals.
Award criteria are the measures used by a contracting authority to identify the most economically advantageous offer. In addition to price, they may include quality, technical merit, aesthetics, environmental performance, operating costs, delivery time, customer service and social aspects. The criteria and their weighting must be published.
A bid is a binding declaration by a bidder to provide the advertised service under the stated conditions. It must be submitted on time, complete and formally correct. It usually includes a completed schedule of services, eligibility evidence, self-declarations and, where required, a concept or technical offer.
Bid evaluation is the multi-stage process of checking and assessing bids. Stage one checks completeness and timely submission. Stage two checks eligibility. Stage three reviews whether prices are reasonable. Stage four applies the award criteria to identify the most economically advantageous offer.
A bidder is a company that submits a bid in a procurement procedure. A company is called an applicant when it submits a request to participate, as in a restricted procedure. Bidders may act individually or form a bidding consortium to submit an offer together.
A bidding consortium is an association of several companies that submit a bid together. Its members are jointly and severally liable to the contracting authority. Consortia are often formed when one company cannot provide the required service alone or can meet the eligibility criteria only together with partners.
Cancellation ends a procurement procedure without awarding a contract. Permitted reasons include that no bid meets the requirements, the tender documents contain fundamental errors, the underlying conditions have changed substantially or no economically acceptable result was achieved. Cancellation does not prevent the authority from issuing a new tender.
Many German states require compliance with collective wage agreements and the minimum wage in their procurement laws. Bidders must declare that they pay employees at least the applicable collectively agreed or statutory minimum wage. Violations can lead to exclusion from the procedure and contractual penalties.
A concession is a contract in which the consideration is not a price but the right to exploit the service, such as operating a toll road or car park. The concessionaire bears the operating risk. Concessions are governed in Germany by the Concessions Regulation (KonzVgV).
A contract award is the contracting authority’s declaration that it accepts a bidder’s offer. The contract is formed when the award is made. The award must go to the most economically advantageous offer, which is not necessarily the cheapest but offers the best price-to-performance ratio under the published criteria.
A contract notice is the public publication of a procurement procedure. It contains the key information about the contract, including its subject, the contracting authority, deadlines, eligibility requirements and award criteria. EU-wide notices are published in the Supplement to the Official Journal of the EU (TED), while national notices appear on state and municipal platforms.
Contracting authorities are institutions that must comply with public procurement law when awarding contracts. They include the federal government, states and municipalities, their special funds, public-law entities and certain privately organized companies that are mainly financed or controlled by the public sector.
The Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) is a standardized classification system for public contracts in the EU. Each service is identified by an eight-digit code. The first two digits identify the division, while later digits provide more detail. CPV codes enable EU-wide searches for matching tenders.
A dynamic purchasing system is a fully electronic procurement procedure for standardized services. Unlike a framework agreement, new companies can join throughout its entire term. The authority establishes the system and invites all admitted companies to bid when a specific need arises. Dynamic purchasing systems are increasingly used for IT and consulting services.
E-procurement means conducting procurement procedures electronically. Since October 2018, electronic procurement has been mandatory above the EU thresholds. Most German states have extended the requirement to below-threshold procurement as well. E-procurement covers electronic notices, access to tender documents and electronic bid submission.
An e-procurement platform is an electronic system for running procurement procedures. Contracting authorities publish notices and provide tender documents there, while bidders can submit bids electronically. Germany has numerous platforms, including subreport, Vergabe24, Deutsche eVergabe, Vergabe.NRW and aumass.
eForms are the standardized data format for public contract notices in the EU. They replace the former standard forms and enable consistent, machine-readable publication. eForms contain more than 600 fields for detailed procurement information and have been mandatory for EU-wide notices since October 2023.
Eligibility criteria are minimum requirements for a bidder’s suitability, checked before the content of a bid is evaluated. They cover professional ability, economic and financial standing, and technical and professional capacity. Companies that do not meet the criteria are excluded from the procedure.
EU thresholds are contract values above which EU procurement law applies and an EU-wide tender notice is required. The current 2026 thresholds are 221,000 euros for supplies and services, 5,538,000 euros for works and 443,000 euros for utilities contracting entities. Below the thresholds, national rules such as UVgO and VOB/A apply.
Exclusion grounds are circumstances that lead to a bidder being excluded from a procurement procedure. Mandatory grounds under section 123 GWB include serious offences such as bribery, fraud and money laundering. Optional grounds under section 124 GWB include insolvency, serious professional misconduct or false statements. Companies may demonstrate self-cleaning to remain eligible.
A formal objection is a bidder’s complaint about a procurement violation addressed to the contracting authority. It is generally a prerequisite for applying to a procurement review chamber. It must be raised without delay; known or recognizable violations that are not challenged within the statutory period may lead to the right to challenge being lost.
A framework agreement is a contract between a contracting authority and one or more companies that sets the conditions for individual orders over a defined period, usually no more than four years. Concrete services are ordered through call-offs. Framework agreements are common for recurring needs such as IT support, office supplies and consulting.
Lot division means splitting a total contract into several partial lots. Contracting authorities are generally required to divide contracts into lots so that small and medium-sized enterprises can participate. Any decision not to divide must be justified. Bidders can bid for one, several or all lots.
Market consultation is the contracting authority’s preliminary research before starting a procurement procedure. It surveys what the market can provide, helps identify a suitable procedure and supports a practical service description. A market consultation is not a procurement procedure and does not create a right to participate.
Prequalification is an advance procedure in which companies demonstrate their eligibility once and are entered in an official register. AVPQ covers supplies and services, while PQ-VOB covers works. Registration serves as proof of eligibility in procurement procedures and avoids repeatedly compiling the same documents.
Prior information is the contracting authority’s duty to inform unsuccessful bidders about the intended award decision before awarding the contract. The standstill period is at least 15 calendar days, or 10 days when sent electronically. During this period, unsuccessful bidders can initiate review proceedings.
A procurement office is the organizational unit within a contracting authority responsible for conducting procurement procedures. It prepares tender documents, publishes notices, answers bidder questions, evaluates bids and awards contracts. Central procurement offices combine purchasing for several departments.
A procurement procedure covers the entire process from publishing a tender notice to awarding the contract. Public procurement law recognizes several procedure types: open, restricted and negotiated procedures, competitive dialogue and innovation partnerships.
A procurement review chamber is the review body for procurement procedures above the EU thresholds. Bidders who believe a procurement violation has harmed their rights can file a review application. The chamber can temporarily stop the procedure, establish unlawfulness and issue orders. Decisions can be appealed to the higher regional court.
Procurement statistics systematically collect data about public contract awards. Since 2020, contracting authorities have been required to report procurement data to the Federal Procurement Statistics system. The data includes the contract subject, procedure type, value, award recipient and other attributes, enabling transparency and market analysis.
Professional services, such as those provided by architects, engineers, experts and lawyers, can be awarded under special rules. Below the EU thresholds they may be awarded without a formal procurement procedure. Above the thresholds, VgV applies, with a negotiated procedure with prior participation competition as the usual approach.
Proof of eligibility consists of documents that bidders use to demonstrate their suitability. It can include references for comparable contracts, turnover, staff numbers, qualifications, certifications such as ISO 9001 and insurance certificates. Prequalification through the official AVPQ register can simplify recurring procurement procedures.
A public contract is a paid agreement between a contracting authority and a company for the purchase of supplies, services or works. Public contracts are subject to procurement law and must generally be awarded through competition. The German public procurement market has an estimated annual volume of more than 500 billion euros.
Public procurement law governs how contracting authorities must award contracts. Above the EU thresholds, the German Act against Restraints of Competition, VgV and VOB/A-EU apply; below them, UVgO and VOB/A apply. The core principles are competition, transparency, equal treatment and value for money.
A request for missing documents is an authority’s invitation for a bidder to submit missing, incomplete or incorrect documents later. Requests are allowed for certain declarations and evidence under section 56 VgV. The period is at least six calendar days. Performance-related documents such as prices and concepts may not be requested later.
The schedule of services is the central tender document that describes the services to be provided in detail. It contains individual items with quantities, descriptions and units. Bidders enter their prices in the schedule. A functional tender describes the desired result instead of individual items.
A self-declaration is a written statement in which a bidder confirms facts such as the absence of exclusion grounds, payment of taxes and social contributions, or compliance with collective wage agreements. Self-declarations initially replace burdensome evidence. Before awarding the contract, the authority may request the actual documents from the preferred bidder.
A subcontractor is a company to which the main contractor transfers part of the contract. In a procurement procedure, the bidder usually has to state which parts of the service it intends to subcontract. The contracting authority may require subcontractors to be named and check their eligibility.
The submission deadline is the point by which bids must have reached the contracting authority. In EU-wide open procedures, the minimum period is 35 days, or 30 days for electronic procurement. The authority may shorten the period in urgent cases. Late bids must be excluded.
Sustainable procurement considers environmental, social and economic aspects when awarding public contracts. Authorities can require eco-labels, assess life-cycle costs, use fair working conditions as award criteria and consider carbon footprints. The 2025/2026 procurement-law reform significantly expanded the options for sustainable procurement.
TED (Tenders Electronic Daily) is the online database for EU-wide tender notices. All procurement procedures above the EU thresholds must be published on TED. It contains notices from every EU member state and is updated daily. Since 2023, TED has used the standardized, machine-readable eForms format.
Tender documents are all documents that the contracting authority makes available to bidders. They include the invitation to bid, application conditions, the service description, the draft contract, award criteria and required evidence. Since 2019, tender documents have had to be provided electronically.
A tender notice is a public invitation from a contracting authority for companies to submit a bid for a specific service or product. In public procurement, it is the central instrument for ensuring transparency, value for money and competition. Procedures include open, restricted and negotiated procedures.
Utilities contracting entities operate in water, energy, transport or postal services while using special or exclusive rights. They are subject to separate procurement rules under SektVO, with higher thresholds and more flexible procedures. Typical examples are municipal utilities, transport operators and energy suppliers.
The Sub-threshold Procurement Regulation (UVgO) governs the award of supplies and services below the EU thresholds. It provides simplified procedure types such as direct awards, negotiated awards and public tenders. UVgO is binding in most German states and applies as an administrative regulation in some others.
A variant bid, also called an alternative bid, departs from the specifications in the tender documents and proposes another solution. Variant bids are allowed only when the notice expressly permits them. They must meet minimum requirements and may offer technical or commercial alternatives.
The German Procurement Regulation (VgV) governs the award of supplies and services above the EU thresholds. It specifies procedure types, deadlines, eligibility checks, award criteria and documentation duties. VgV is complemented by VOB/A-EU for works and SektVO for utilities contracting entities.
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